Пиле, змия, звяр и дюля

Four long novellas move through Bulgaria's twentieth century and beyond: the war years, the 1950s and 1960s, the late communist reforms, the transition and finally a present of consumerism and reality television. The setting is a remote province whose villages carry invented names that are still easy to place. Realistic, almost documentary storytelling about real-seeming people alternates with surreal and mythical turns, so that the stories read at once as social chronicle and as legend or parable. One novella is built around four figures with rich histories in the myths and folk tales of many cultures. The book also parodies the stilted language of communist officials, and in one novella the poetry of Penyo Penev serves as a reference point and as a kind of lyrical hero. The four texts are linked by symbols and style rather than plot.

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About the book

Form

Short stories

Length

272 pages in the original

First published

2019 by Janet 45

Author's age

77 when first published

ISBN

9786191865079 (original)